I'm a big tea drinker, and I drink my teas loose. At work at usually smirk at the tea bags we offer, expecially the ones that try to be all impressive with their flavored tea mixes. and don't even get me started on flavored white tea.

But I do get disgruntled from time to time because not all tea is the same. Even buying from the same plantation or region will differ based on the climate at time of picking. or what season its picked in. I spend good dime on loose teas only to get them home to find out they are barely acceptable quality at best. Inconsistant I guess is the best discriptor. Just because its loose tea and sold at a tea store doesn't make it good

Long story short I had a lipton yellow label tea for breakfast today. and I was very impressed. Its better than some of my loose black teas in my cupboard now. I checked out their website and have been watching it for sometime now. They actually have tea tasters blending tea from all around the world getting the tea flavor just right. The tasters even said their aim wasn't a perfect cup of tea. because that would be too hard to maintain. They have a fairly high standard, and try to keep that on an even keel.

Now I prefer the loose teas, I like the practice and procedure. so I don't plan stopping that any time soon. so I'll still be buying my loose teas and experimenting with teas from around the world. but its nice to know a good cup of tea isn't hard to find.

I think the reason I didn't like the tea before was I knew it was lipton tea and I let my preconceived notions dictate my taste buds. When I tasted it this morning I let my mind be open. I was quite pleased. But my pleasure soon disipated as the hunt was too easy. Part of the fun for me is hunting down that great cup of tea, I have to taste many a bad ones to find it, but I do indeed find it. With lipton yellow label there is no hunt.. there is just tea. its good, but not GREAT! boring! :)

did anyone have similar experience with a big named tea company? Red Rose, Lusianne, etc..

Hi Fincher. I'm a big tea drinker myself, and I have not had the experience you cite. I am one of those folks who is willing to try anything and everything and just decide from there. Recently, I have had a couple of loose teas from Stash that I really enjoy. You have to order that stuff online though and have it shipped to you.

I have found that Lipton tends to discontinue any tea I particularly enjoy. I used to drink their Tangy Lemon and Tangy Orange herbal teas but alas, gone the way of the dinosaurs.

I have found that Celestial Seasonings sometimes disappoints me with some of their blends.

And is Red Rose still Canada only?

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__________________You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it. Robin Williams Alix

We had a U.S. tea taster come to my culinary school and give us a lecture on tea. He was part of the only North American tea plantation ( Charleston S.C.) tea tasters are rare, (far more so than certified master chefs) Lipton seems to have quite a few on staff who take their job seriously. I was quite flabergasted at not only the quality but my own snobbery.

Its not going to stop me from buying loose teas, but I know that at least if I want a decent cup from a bag I can bring my nose down and grab a bag of lipton yellow. Thats the only one I like the regular hot tea one, and their bottled beverages are not that good (to me)

Thanks for the post. I will definitely give it a try. I'm a big tea drinker too, never acquired a taste for coffee (though I do like coffee ice cream and coffee yogurt!). Like you, I would always bypass Lipton, thinking it was corporate sludge. I think since tea is very "in" now, they knew it would be profitable to upgrade their products. As I get older, I'm learning to let go of those old prejudices and just judge things by my actual experiences. This seems to work well with just about everything, not just tea! If you have never tried Ashworth tea (ASHWORTH TEA, Gourmet Tea, Loose Leaf Tea, Estate Teas) give it a try. They are stictly mail order, but I have gotten some wonderful loose tea of very high quality at a very reasonable price.

PS: Never knew there was a city called Toledo in Ontario Canada. I was born in Toledo, Ohio!

Thanks wysiwyg. The old Red Rose commercials used to have a guy saying, "Only in Canada hey? Pity." So I wasn't sure. I haven't seen a commercial for it for eons.

Twinings is another particular brand favorite of mine. I love their Earl Grey and their breakfast teas are both fabulous. I prefer the Irish as it is more full bodied. Delicious.

Fincher, have you seen the ads for Nestea's Green Tea in a bottle? They claim it is all natural and hot bottled to eliminate the need for any preservative in the bottle. Personally, I'm not a huge green tea fan so I don't drink it. Just wondering if anyone else had and if it compared favorably.

__________________You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it. Robin Williams Alix

I find most American tea blends rather dull, bag or loose. I prefer loose but have found "London Cuppa" a real Brittish tea sold over here in Fancy dept stores and remaindered to stores like Marshalls. Quite a good floral black tea. Takes a tad of milk nicely and really is that "lovely cuppa tea"

otherwise I buy from a tea and coffee shop and choose form their bins Russian Caravan, Baltimore Clipper, Himilayan Mountain, etc.

Really, where? I get it from Canada. I never seen it here, that doesnít mean it is not available, but I just havenít seen it. I do love red rose.

As far as loose teas go, I love to buy Indian tea and Ceylon tea and mix it together, it makes really good combination. Strongly recommend to try it. If you canít find it in a regular store, go to a Russian store they usually have it.

Robo, I don't think there are any American tea blends. except for the one in Charleston, but you can only buy it there, I think you mean companies like Lipton. which is in fact British. (though they do have a base in America) I thought the same thing though. I thought it was an american company. probably led to why I thought it was so bad. nothing against americans, but hey americans did throw the tea party and tried to stay away from tea for the longest time.

Red Rose tea is now owned by Lipton. Its not very good in my opinion. I tried it today and its very droll. far inferior to the somewhat equally priced lipton yellow label.

Makes me wonder though, how come lipton yellow label is so cheap????? do they not pay the farmers fair wages? whats the deal?